Debbie Wildrick, Chief Advisory Officer, Metabrand, offered some tips to decision makers related to the development of brands and new natural products at SupplySide West in Las Vegas, NV, on Nov. 13.

The reality today, she said, is there’s a “huge amount of product category overload; we have so many choices today as consumers.” For example, the beverage market has evolved from the dominance of soda and a select few premium waters to today’s competitive and cluttered market that includes an overwhelming number of brands and choices.

“Product differentiation is your way to profits and sales,” said Ms. Wildrick. However, the new word for ‘differentiation’ is really ‘disruption.’ We’ve evolved to marketplace clutter, and consumers largely ignore clutter. They can only take in so much information.”

So entrepreneurs need to move markets in new directions in order to be successful. She went on to quote and reference Sean Parker, former president of Facebook, co-founder of Napster and market disrupter, who said essentially that truly great entrepreneurs realize an unmet need in the marketplace and can’t sleep until they are able to build the product that fills that gap.

Companies must understand essential elements of business, as well as market dynamics. To that end, Ms. Wildrick offered “10 Pillars To A Successful Brand”:

1) Market opportunity and consumer need
2) Differentiation (disruption)
3) Formulations/packaging/manufacturing
4) Viable business model
5) Brand strategy and consumer messaging
6) Channel strategies/distribution models
7) Marketing strategy
8) Infrastructure
9) Team/people
10) Financing

It’s also important to understand and align with macro/micro trends, including demographics (Baby Boomers and Millennials), sociocultural trends (lifestyles), economic trends, technological trends, regulatory, etc.

Meanwhile, Ms. Wildrick referenced Euromonitor’s 10 Global Macro Trends for the Next 5 Years: 

1) An uncertain future
2) The emerging middle classes
3) The disaffected youth
4) The rich/poor divide
5) The climate challenge
6) An aging world
7) The urban transition
8) People on the move
9) A more connected world
10) China goes global